Cameras are incorporated into a wide range of devices. For example, widely used consumer electronics devices, such as phones, tablets, and laptops, include a camera. To comply with the targeted cost for such devices, the camera must be manufactured at very low cost. The manufacturing cost of a typical camera module is composed of (a) cost of materials, such as cost of the image sensor, the lens material, and the packaging material, and (b) cost of packaging (including assembly). In many cases, the cost of packaging is significant and may even exceed the cost of materials. For example, both image sensors and lenses may be inexpensively produced at the wafer-level, while the process of aligning the lens with the image sensor and the process of constructing a light-tight housing (apart from the viewing port) for the camera module are non-wafer-level processes that contribute to the total cost of a camera module in a non-negligible fashion.
The size of wafer-level image sensors is decreasing steadily. This development is driven, at least in part, by cost. A smaller image sensor reduces the bill of materials per image sensor and also increases the number of image sensors produced per wafer. In addition, associated lenses and packaging may be made smaller, which leads to further cost reduction as well as very compact camera modules compatible with tight spatial constraints such as those associated with cellular phones.